Meditati-ommmmmmmmmm...

Several times this week I have thought I ought to write a blog. I mean, I wouldn't want regular readers to think I had succumbed to some kind of lurgy, let alone allow them to have a few days of peace and quiet from my sometimes incessant ramblings. That would NEVER do. 

And yet every time the thought of Blog has arrived in my mind, do you know what has happened? It has passed straight through, that is what has happened. Because I, yes me, of chatterbox brain and restless mind, has been exploring and trying (haha!) to learn about and practice the art of Proper Meditation. (And by 'proper' I mean not just sitting on the floor in a darkened room with my eyes closed wondering if I have time to put in a load of washing, or did I remember to pick up peanut butter when I went shopping, which is what usually happens but proper 24 hours a day mindful meditation that adheres to a Buddhist/ Yogic ideology.)

I have been reading about mandalas and yantras, Buddist masters and mantras. I have been attempting to bend my legs into the Lotus position (and not doing too badly I have to say) and I have been keeping a meditation diary. And the phrase that keeps appearing in the various sources I have been a-reading is 'When thoughts arrive in your mind, as they invariably do, then don't let them dwell, let them pass on through.' (I made it into a bit of a poem so I would remember.) I suppose it is a bit like avoiding mental constipation.

And this has been difficult, because there is always stuff going on in my head, and I didn't realise how much stuff until I started trying to keep those thoughts passing through and not plonking themselves in the beanbags of my mind for a nice cosy chat like they usually do. 'Come on!' I have been telling them. 'Keep on moving. There's no room for you here. And definitely no cocoa and biscuits.'

It is all to do with this change in life direction I have been feeling. I have been more focused and purposeful with my healing list. I have allocated it a special notebook (padded pink fabric cover and lovely handmade paper) and a proper ink pen with which to write in it in a meditative kind of way. Flora helped me fill the ink pen from the ink pot. It didn't go well and I was forced to ask her to desist in her efforts and go and annoy someone else instead. I am afraid I wasn't very Buddhist minded when I told her this but it has only been a couple of weeks so far. 

Of course, other stuff has been happening, too. The new baby grandchild was on the receiving end of his/her first scan this week and is developing in a nicely responsible way. I had a spot of fun with a persistent telephone cold caller who was insistent he wanted to discuss the car accident I'd had in the last two years.

'What accident would that be then?' said I.

'The one you've had in the last two years,' said he.

'Could you be more specific?' said I.

'No,' said he. 'The Data Protection Act prevents me from doing that.'

'So,' said I, 'you can't tell me about a car accident I have had in the last two years because you are safeguarding my own data from me?'

'Yes,' said he (although he was starting to sound a bit confused at this point because I was not sticking to the script.)

'Can I tell you,' I said, 'that I haven't had a car accident for 28 years?'

He hung up. Point to moi, I think!

And I have been in a reading frenzy, finishing three books this week. And a writing frenzy, picking up again with my Minerva Thing novel AND sending postcards hither and thither across the globe for my new-found Post Crossing Hobby. I have sent and received 36 postcards in the last ten weeks. It has been very lovely. I am running out of wall space.

And so I shall continue my progress along the path of Mindful Meditation. Birthday coming up next week. Life goes on.